词义 (cí yì) — word meaning, meaning of a word

Definition

noun
word meaningmeaning of a word

Examples

  • 词义。
    Chá zì diǎn shí yào zhù yì zhè ge cí yì de yòng fǎ.
    Pay attention to how this word meaning is used when looking it up in the dictionary.
  • 词义，。
    Zhè liǎng gè cí yì fēi cháng jiē jìn, dàn shì yǒu xì wēi chā bié.
    These two word meanings are very close, but there are subtle differences.
  • 词义。
    Lǎo shī jiě shì le nà ge shēng cí de cí yì.
    The teacher explained the meaning of that new word.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

词cíword
义yìmeaning

词 names the word, and 义 gives its meaning, so the whole means the meaning of a word.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 詞; 词 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
言言yánspeech
Sound part声符shēngfú
司
司sī詞cí(r)
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 詞 uses 言, meaning speech, and 司 to show how it was pronounced; the simplified 词 is a shorthand, and its right side is not the historical sound part.

Open 词 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 義; 义 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
羊羊yáng
Sound part声符shēngfú
我
我wǒ義yì
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 義 has 我 giving the sound and 羊 meaning good or auspicious; the simplified 义 is a later abbreviation.

Open 义 →

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